Remembering Fusaichi Pegasus

Cover image courtesy of Coolmore Stud

Coolmore America announced the news on Wednesday morning (US time) that Fusaichi Pegasus (USA) had died at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, due to the infirmities of old age. He was 26.

With more than 75 individual stakes winners worldwide, including six at the highest level, as well as being a champion broodmare sire, Fusaichi Pegasus left an indelible mark on the bloodstock world.

He was a son of the great Mr Prospector (USA) and the stakes performer Angel Fever (USA) (Danzig {USA}) and she herself was a sister to the 1992 G1 Preakness S. winner Pine Bluff (USA) and a half-sister to the 1987 G1 Arkansas Derby victor Demons Begone (USA).

Bred by Arthur Hancock and Bob and Janice McNair of Stonerside Farm, Fusaichi Pegasus was nicknamed ‘Superman’ as a foal because of his exceptional physique and presence.

He was bought for US$4 million (AU$6.1 million) by Fusao Sekiguchi at the 1998 Keeneland July Sale.

Trained by Hall of Famer Neil Drysdale, Fusaichi Pegasus won the G2 San Felipe S. and the G2 Wood memorial, before becoming the first favourite since 1979 to take out the Kentucky Derby, in 2000. Soon after, he was sent out at prohibitive odds in the G1 Preakness S., but was no match for Red Bullet (USA).

Upon retirement, in 2000, a heated bidding war involving most farms in Lexington for Fusaichi Pegasus ensued. He retired to Ashford Stud for a then-record-breaking sum, with Coolmore having paid a reported US$60 million (AU$92 million) for the stallion.

Fusaichi Pegasus stood his Northern Hemisphere stud season for a jaw-dropping US$150,000 (AU$230,000), an extremely high price for an unproven sire.

His Group/Grade 1 winners include Bandini (USA), Roman Ruler (USA) and Champ Pegasus (USA).

Fusaichi Pegasus was pensioned in 2020 to live out his retirement at Ashford Stud.

Dermot Ryan, general manager at Ashford Stud, paid tribute to the stallion’s death.

“Fu Peg was a fantastic racehorse and a colorful character,” he said.

“I would like to thank (stallion manager) Richard Barry and all of his team, past and present, for providing the highest level of care for him throughout his time at Ashford.”

Australasian impact

‘Fu Peg’, as he was known, shuttled to Coolmore in Australia between 2001-2007.

In 2002, he celebrated his first stakes winner Down Under when Flying Pegasus - a colt from the Danehill (USA) mare Cashier - was victorious in the G3 Kindergarten S. He would add the G2 Royal Sovereign S. to his CV before retirement.

Flying Pegasus himself stood at stud for seven seasons and produced three stakes winners - King Saul, Saint Bro and The Rising.

Fusaichi Pegasus’ one and only Group 1 winner in Australia was Haradasun. The colt was from a star mare - Circles Of Gold (Marscay) - the winner of the G1 Australian Oaks in 1995.

Remarkably, 16 of her 43 starts were in top company and she placed in four of them, including the 1996 G1 Caulfield Cup and Haradasun himself became a star. From 15 starts, he failed to finish in the top just three times, and notched seven victories - three of them at Group 1 level.

Arguably his most famous triumph was the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot in 2008.

Haradasun is the sire of seven individual stakes winners, with Harry’s Son his lone Group 1 scorer (he won the Greyville Premier's Champion S. in 2014).

Fusaichi Pegasus has had 27 stakes winners in Australasia (24 in Australia, three in New Zealand).

Some of his more noteworthy progeny in Australasia from a racing perspective include Cats Whisker, Just Dancing, Tipungwuti, Falino, Yuri and Zizou.

Cats Whisker won two Group 2s and a Group 3 and placed in a Group 1. She has produced 10 foals, with seven having raced and six of them winners, including the Group 1 victress Catchy (Fastnet Rock).

Zizou, meanwhile, won the Listed Maribyrnong Trial S. at two in 2006, before embarking on a stud career, where he produced two stakes winners - Everage and Zin Zan Eddie.

A top sire, a better broodmare sire

Fusaichi Pegasus certainly boasts impressive statistics as a sire in his own right, however, it’s as a broodmare sire where he has really made a mark.

Fusaichi Pegasus broodmares boast outstanding figures with Encosta De Lago. That cross has produced two stakes winners, one Group winner, with a stakes winners to runners ratio of 12 per cent.

The dual Listed victress Aeronautical amassed $547,140 in earnings.

Fastnet Rock has been another sire that has worked well with Fu Peg broodmares, with Catchy, Albany Reunion and Rocket Spade all scoring at the highest level.

Catchy has produced three foals - all fillies. The first, Dakota Vroom (I Am Invincible), made $1.2 million at the 2021 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. Consigned by Bhima Thoroughbreds, she was bought by Chris Waller Racing / Hermitage and ran second on debut at Randwick-Kensington in February.

Her second filly, the unraced 2-year-old Floozie (Zoustar), was retained by breeder Robert Crabtree and is with Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr.

Catchy also had a Too Darn Hot (GB) filly and she was knocked down to Anthony Cummings Thoroughbreds for $550,000 from the Bhima Thoroughbreds draft at this year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

Fusaichi Pegasus is the broodmare sire of Capitalist - Australia’s Champion 2YO of 2015/16 and a Golden Slipper-winning son of Written Tycoon - who has gone on to become one of the elite stallions in Australia (he has 12 individual stakes winners, including the Group 1 hero Captivant).

Other stakes winners that Fusaichi Pegasus is the broodmare sire of include Babylon Berlin (All Too Hard), Rose Of Choice (Choisir), Gamblin’ Guru (New Approach {Ire}), Niagara, Darci Be Good (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), Euryale (Lonhro), Malibu Style (Magnus), Taikomochi (Snitzel), Dashing Fellow (Duporth) and Metallic Crown (Northern Meteor).